Easy & Powerful Arduino Alternative? #4 Pyboard (MicroPython) Beginner's Guide

[@Asu01]

_"168MHz clock speed"_ Meh.. _"1MB memory"_ Okay.. _"32-bit timer"_ Fine, I guess.. _"3 on-board LEDs"_ *Now that's what I'm talking about! Now I can flex in front of my friends with my advanced, triple blinking LED program!*

[@greatscottlab]

Haha :-)

[@karl2673]

The Arduino Micro has 3 onboard LEDs too and they're all programmable :) For reference those are LED_BUILTIN (pin 13), LED_BUILTIN_TX and LED_BUILTIN_RX (also the SS pin). Should also note that those will still flash when you use the serial monitor and the only way to disable that would be to modify the firmware and delete the code that handles the RX/TX LED flashing.

[@Rayan-Singh]

@HollyT Yes 😂😂😂😂

[@alejandroalzatesanchez]

Guy an extensible memory with sd!

[@wesleymays1931]

@HollyT Laughs in Intel 1,830MHz

[@1976kanthi]

Waoh! I was looking for an arduino alternative. This video came in just the right time!

[@greatscottlab]

You're welcome ;-)

[@swatantratech5732]

@@greatscottlab please tell us how to use oscilloscope please i from indian watch all ur video i your fan tq but please do video on osliscope operating

[@d19sbp]

@@Jdozjsnwj783 python isn't slow, it takes a bit more memory but python calls to C and is just as fast.

[@vatterger]

@@swatantratech5732 kzbin.info?search_query=oscilloscope+tutorial There are already a lot of great videos on oscilloscope operation, check out the one by mjlorton, i think it was the first suggestion too and it's really well made so you can follow it easily.

[@long-timelistenerfirst-t-us2yy]

@@vatterger - yeah I can also vouch for mjlorton, his oscilloscope video is intense. I eventually unsubbed his channel tho, *way* too dry and everything was a "deep dive"... _he fried my ADD_ hehelol 🤭

[@BigDaddy_MRI]

I had my first 4 layer PCB built by JLCPCB because of your sponsorship. They did a fantastic job on those boards! I am very impressed by them. I’m designing another project and will use them again! This seems like an interesting board. I’m very interested in the Arduino port for the libraries. That way, the language changes won’t be so severe. Sounds like a great board to experiment with. Thank you for a great video!

[@greatscottlab]

Great to hear!

[@Abodino]

@@greatscottlabHi scott.plsssssss...make a vedio about arduino starter kit with some examples. Thank you...

[@villageracademy4815]

I normally use uPy on ESP8266 & ESP32. They just cost 3-4USD but with wifi & Bluetooth connection capability

[@zaydabbas1609]

Same, they are my 2 favorite microcontrollers

[@Dalmen]

me too. upy on a ESP32 is awesome

[@AdamTheBot]

I use esp32 , it's just awesome for the price . But it gets a little bit hot while running Marauder .

[@andymouse]

I would like to point out an ESP32 dev board with micropython called "Tiny Pico" to your viewers, the easy to use WIFI might be interesting to them, great video...cheers.

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks for the info!

[@kazykamakaze131]

You can with a few lines of code in C++ have wifi up and running. It's nothing too complicated and won't eat up all the storage of your little device. Python tends to be a massive hog when it comes to resources compared to C++ especially if you know that python is interpreted to C++ and adds a large amount of code for memory management.

[@javierolavarria]

@@kazykamakaze131 MicroPython is based in standard CPython, isn't based in C++. In micropython your write less than C++ but the use of ram is high.

[@kazykamakaze131]

@@javierolavarria C and C++ is basically the same thing since you can write C in C++ but not the other way around, so technically it is written in C++ as well. Also, you still sit with the exact same problem with memory allocation that needs to be cleaned regardless of what you say a python program will be larger and slower than a written C/C++ program, if you do not believe me make a program, compile and test compared to Python equivalent. You would have known this if you knew how garbage collection works in the first place.

[@cheaterman49]

@@kazykamakaze131 In practice, dev time is usually more valuable than hardware resources.

[@mcintoshdev]

That board may be just perfect for the air combat sim cockpit I want to build! Even though it's bigger and more expensive it's higher clock speed, more memory and greater amounts of IO could amount to a cheaper solution in the long run. Great video as usual!

[@ARClazerbeam]

Thank you for posting! Within the last week I started my journey of learning Python. This couldn't have come at a better time.

[@aleXelaMec]

Finally!!! )) As for price, you can use esp32/8266 and port micropython on it. Works very well. Also powerful, but much cheaper. Thanks as always.

[@atlantapuzzler976]

Scott, this board sports an STM32F405 chip. You can use the Arduino platform to program it if you want to. It is nice to learn MicroPython, but I just wanted to point that out

[@kimdzongdzwon82]

Your channel is Great knowledge source, i learned alomst 90% of my electronics, phisics and even a lot of english from you Thanks so much for want to share your knowledge with us, I really respect such people

[@randomcoder3185]

adafruit has their own fork of micropython called circuitpython. adafruit also makes boards that are designed for it and make it really easy to use. while the most powerful one may not be as powerful, "only" 120Mhz. It comes in the same footprint as an arduino nano so i think its pretty cool

[@ZeroMass]

Perfect timing, just poured my coffee, 'lets get started'.. 🤘😁

[@dr.sreepriyad8253]

Wan and I accidentally poured my coffee on my sister

[@_wandering]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ZeroMass]

@@dr.sreepriyad8253 ouch lol Just watch for when she pays you back for that one 🤪

[@youssefahourri3245]

Nice to meet you again Great Scott ☺️

[@Dvay1]

I recoment to check Micropython for ESP32 and also how to connect it with Jupyter Notebook. This is a briliant combination!

[@DD-DD-DD]

"Pooty" lolol that's a different kind of thing

[@maxd7228]

I will never pronounce Putty the same after this. Pooty is the new word.

[@SayanGHD]

Exactly!

[@knarftrakiul3881]

Pooty is what you get on your finger when wiping your butt with cheap toilet paper

[@SamChaneyProductions]

Putty_Tang.exe

[@FoX84tac022]

@@SamChaneyProductions xD

[@deadbird99]

0:31 you should definitely check out the Teensy 4.1. If the PyBoard's power amazes you, this puppy will blow your mind 😉 Moreover, I must thank you for something. I long while ago, I tried micropython and was stuck back then with a REPL environment, which was so painful to develop with...The way the Pyboard works is definitely a plus, I really want to try one of these!

[@greatscottlab]

I saw it online. I actually thought about creating an oscilloscope with it. But I will need more time for that😅

[@deadbird99]

@@greatscottlab oooooh, that's one sweet idea ^^

[@srivatsarupadhya6116]

@@greatscottlab It would be an interesting project !!

[@TeddyGun300]

Awesome, finally my python skills make some sense in the microcontroller programming world

[@TomaszDurlej]

For lower power consumption chec L series of stm32.

[@belyrit4984]

You may try to code on vscode, it is light (not as light as np++ ), it will help you debbuging your python code 😉

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks for the tip :-)

[@gogny7665]

Have a look to vscodium, vscode without the microsoft's dubious code... I use it with the platformio extension, it is great !

[@yuna5344]

@@gogny7665 I use Atom because of the code from Microsoft but Plattform IO has many issues with Atom. I didn't know such thing as vscodium existed so i might give it a try. Thanks for the info.

[@Alacritous]

@@gogny7665 I'm not worried about Microsoft telemetry. I use Pihole DNS server. It blocks malware and spyware including Microsoft telemetry endpoints. It does a big job of keeping viruses and spyware off the rest of the family's computers too.

[@groowy]

real men use vim ;)

[@7head7metal7]

Since I really like Python, this looks like a fun board to check out

[@uzairmughal4976]

Finally..! Please demonstrate some project using MIcroPython for ARM controllers. Much appreciated

[@user-yw8sr3uj1w]

Why not RISC-V

[@shamrithponlingam1656]

My man is doin all the software stuff twice as he needs to film with the laptop and his desktop is not were he films

[@greatscottlab]

True ;-)

[@vincentstragier6628]

@@8SecSleeper maybe simply with AutoHotkey...

[@Gastell0]

Filesystem programming AND built-in serial out of the box? That's definitely an easy start board!

[@Delali]

This is an amazing board. Specs got me thinking of projects for my channel. Keep up the great work Mr. Scott.

[@rondlh20]

There is also a Pyboard Mini which is quite close in size to the Arduino Nano, based on STM32F411CET5, 512KB flash, 128KB RAM

[@AnandKilli]

Love your work man. Good to see you playing with Micropython. It’s beautiful. Hope to see great projects from you using micropython boards

[@YashKumar-zm2ud]

Was just looking for a guide on pyboard and this video came in! Thank you, Great Scott!

[@jessstuart7495]

That's a 12-bit DAC at 2.4 MSPS. You can always dither the output and lowpass filter it to obtain a higher effective number of bits.

[@Gurux13]

You can also use MicroPython with esp8266 and esp32, I have DIY home automation running on these.

[@alexcarter8082]

STM32s are another level I love them

[@qarwill]

This seems pretty competitive...

[@varuns150]

is micro python tough?

[@SolarWebsite]

@@varuns150 Tough? If you know the general principals of other programming languages (micro)Python is not very hard to learn. I taught myself microPython last year and I've moved completely away from Arduino for ESPxxx programming.

[@thommy270]

There is now a uC from Raspberry, called "Pico", which you can easily program with uPython too! Looks really promising

[@art4259]

There are a lot of stm32 family micro controller boards available at the Internet suppliers. And you should try to programm it by free system workbench or cube from st. Surely, these boards are much more greater than Arduino ones. And Python is a great language, but it requires a lot of resources comparing to c++.

[@LeonVuksic]

Bro I’ve been using STM32F7 boards for like 3 years, now thats a beast 💪 P.S. you have 2 versions of the F7 one has smaller/bigger memory, less/more UART’s, etc...

[@aricius7130]

Hi. I would love to see "DIY or Buy" episode about Wi-Fi antenna or signal booster. I think im not alone :)

[@rajatghosh1158]

U know ure not alone - Alan walkee

[@caffeinatedinsanity2324]

I imagine him now reviewibg Nucleo boards even though they are already relatively well known among the community

[@cwbh10]

Would be cool if you showed the original pyboard to help support the project

[@arjayUU]

Find out more on STMs official dpcumentation. Note that asynchronous programming and multithreading are supported as well. What a joy! www.st.com/en/embedded-software/grpl-upython.html

[@Dreez]

"puddy" 3:33 hahhha xd

[@sol3406]

Lolol

[@ayanvaidya2727]

you are one of my subscribed youtuber whose video i first like and than watch keep making such educational videos they really inspire alot

[@ndgoh67]

Great video as always.... I value great information sharing and have no issues on how certain words are pronounced as I have great respect for a great guy like GREAT SCOTT... Thank you... As for those Sylvesters, go watch your cartoon...

[@gregf9160]

This was very interesting, and good to see you enjoying learning something new 😉

[@vitormoreno1244]

You can set the STM32 timers almost that easy too, take a look at stm32duino library and the HardwareTimer library.

[@D.Axtmann]

Please have a look at the Teensy 4 lineup. Really worth a try, especially with all the new features and projects it is able to power :)

[@AdityaElectronics]

Indonesia is here watching again :)

[@ralakus8784]

You should check out some Kendryte K210 boards from Sipeed. Their Maix boards normally run MicroPython like this one but it has a dual core RISC-V rv64gc CPU with an AI accelerator and 8mb of RAM so you can run any code compiled for RISC-V that doesn't use an MMU. They're around the same price as that board you just got. Some variants also have Wifi, TFT connector, and a camera connector

Very nice board. If only there was WiFi in the mix, I would probably move to it from the ESPs.

[@nikodemradomski1782]

Considered the Lolin D1 mini?

[@nathanp3366]

ESP8266 and ESP32 boards can run micropython

[@davidharms3562]

Great video GreatScott! I too am partial to my Arduino Boards, and have been tempted to try out Micro Python. Will definitely give it a try in the near future. 👍🏻

[@flomojo2u]

Very cool, I would compare the PyBoard 1.1 to an Arduino Uno as a sort of baseline for performance and expandability in the MicroPython world. The ESP32 (With mandatory PSRAM!) is also a great option for WiFi-enabled boards, while the MaixPy/MaixDuino boards are on the high end: 64 bit RISC-V dual core w/floating point unit at up to 600 MHz, 8MB of RAM, and bundled with a 320x240 LCD, micro SD, and VGA camera with hardware object recognition, all for around $35 for a bundle.

[@arjayUU]

Finally a worthy accessible development alternative! You can just run micropython on a typical Nucleo Board by ST. So no need to get some chinese replica. They are very cheap anyways.. Performance comparisons between C, Arduino and uPython would be so intersting!

[@JRZ901]

Adafruit has many sensor and actuator libraries for CircuitPython that are compatible with MicroPython and your microcontroller.

[@SohailKhan-nn1cx]

Did you sware your partnership with the JLCPCB for the eternity?😂😂

[@greatscottlab]

Maybe.....

[@user-yw8sr3uj1w]

Its getting annoying

[@cheaterman49]

To be fair they're a _great_ mfg/assembly house!

[@user-yw8sr3uj1w]

@@cheaterman49 i literally have a script which presses the L key after the intro and it auto skips the advert without fail! Thats how consistent he is!

[@SohailKhan-nn1cx]

@@cheaterman49 i know i was just kidding😜❤ hes putting in alot of effort for us.

[@MegaSteamfreak]

I mean yes, the sleep mode current is high at 1.1 mA but if you look at the Standby consumption you can get down to 2.2µA @ 3.3V/25°C (DS8626 Rev 9 Table 24). If you really need low power go for a STM 32L4 which can get down to around 8 nA in Shutdown mode (AN4621 Rev 5 Table 6).

[@aarondlancaster]

Looking forward to more videos on this board!

[@chris-tal]

I've bought a few chinese black, blue, etc. STM32F407 boards for trying out mpy a while ago. Some have SD slots, others don't. You can even run your code from SD. STM32F405 is not very different than 407, but some of my boards had a bit different layout than the original pyboard. Check out mcauser's github repos for some of them. I had one that was not on his list, so I've played around and modified one of his board definitions and put it up to my repo. I'm running this chinese one with a particle sensor, a BMP680 and a lorawan radio. Also do check out the company named pycom. They even started to sell an 8ch lorawan gateway running mpy, not long ago. :)

[@zakhapiell4142]

It is like common programming in c just using register address nice I prefer that option it's is harder to learn but gives more options

[@ridakr9473]

Really awesome product i am waiting you new videos about it and i will buy one so soon keep discovering bro

[@alfblack2]

oh lovely! micro socs getting exciting.

[@MCsCreations]

Pretty interesting board! Looks like an old flight controller! 😂 Great review, dude!!! Stay safe and creative there! 🖖😊

[@greatscottlab]

Thanks, you too!

[@markmark2961]

168 MHz, 1MB RAM. I guess I can blink those 3 leds really fast

[@psylentrage]

"Impressive. Most Impressive.'" Thanks for the video. GR8 Info! And also FOSS?

[@real_Zuramaru]

nice timing. i did a lab on micropython with an esp32 not long ago too

[@greatscottlab]

Nice!

Micropython is insane. Nice video!

[@excitedbox5705]

ST sent me a few samples of this chip i the spring. It is feature packed and if I remember correctly it is supposed to be used as a motor controller with built in MCU.

[@devdylan6152]

the esp32-C3 is RISC-5 and a beast as well.

[@akhurash]

This is a very powerful board for a great price. Will have to try it.

[@LuizDahoraavida]

how did you post this a week ago

[@mrHello420__]

@@LuizDahoraavida Patreons get the videos earlier.

[@sutsuj6437]

I would recommend vs code for python (with the python extension of course). notepad ++ is just a bit to basic.

[@blackkissi]

Thanks, made another online purchase today, after watching this video 😀

[@maxpaege4752]

I don't know if you have Seen it, but in my opinion the best alternativ to arduino are the nucleo boards Form STMicroelectronics ther you have a fiwe options for programming (STM Cube, Mbed OS, Arduino IDE, Keil IDE,...). It has an arduino compatible pin header and an extra header for more i/o's the microcontrollers are all arm based and extremly powerfull (and one have eaven a dual core)

[@BenLMitchell]

Im tempted to buy one and plug it into Betaflight to see if I can get it to work 🤔

[@samu-yx8zv]

Check out the Teensy 4.0, that bad boy is smaller than an arduino nano, and its bloody 600 mhz! Its insane!

[@asm_nop]

Wow. That's insane. Tbh the teensy4.0 doesn't have enough pins on it, but on the plus side, the chip itself runs about CAD$18 on its own. Really easy to drop into a custom design.

[@blackkissi]

but 3 times as expensive as the board in this video

[@samu-yx8zv]

@@blackkissi no. The teensy is 20 bucks, this is 13. And i believe those 7 bucks are easily worth the faster speeds, and even more so the tiny form factor.

[@edwardpaulsen1074]

For an even more powerful board (and only slightly bigger) check out the Teensy 4.1 that has 55 pins! plus ethernet and SD card for extended storage and lots of extras! Yes... it is double the price, but it is more than double the capacity, speed, and options... with the exception of not having a native accelerometer or camera port... choose the board that works best for your needs or the best overall bang for your buck... if you don't need all that power than use the smaller cheaper boards... but for sheer brute force at a good price...

[@jean-paulblanc8849]

At the moment I use ESP32 with PlatformIO IDE (a prety nice plugin on visual code), perhaps you can make a video comparing ESP32 and this board. With FreeRtos, you can use multitasking.

[@AnandKumar-ym9yw]

See you next time 😍😍

[@pauljackson2126]

I thought that I would stick with Arduino no matter what because it's based on C and most importantly, I didn't want to learn a new language like Python and rather stick with C-related stuff. But after watching this video, I think I should give Python a try. If anyone asks, this is the reason for me learning Python

[@johndripper]

i hv micropython flashed on my esp32 ;)

[@nsg650]

The serial connection to an interactive python shell for arduino is already there its called tinyBasic+

[@expletorytube]

Also check out Adafruit's QT Py board if you want something small with USB C and Python. It's also less expensive, but has fewer pins and LEDs.

[@cheaterman49]

1:11 Is the "USR" button burnt? :-o

[@lohikarhu734]

seems, then, that it executes python code fast enough for quite a few 'real-time' applications. NIce into!

[@dogukanbicer4228]

exactly the video i expected

[@dummypg6129]

Nodemcu: 4Mb flash 2.4ghz wifi uPython support as well as Lua, C/C++ Overclock 160Mhz Low current draw at deep sleep

[@cheaterman49]

Welcome to the mpy world by the way :-D it's a brand new universe out there! Given this board is a slightly more expensive equivalent (with better UC but worse connectivity), do you think you could cover the ESP32/ESP8266-based mpy dev boards? I know you already used them in _plenty_ of projects, but I'm not sure you ever used them with mpy (given you said you just got introduced to mpy in this video)? EDIT: Oh the pyboard seems to have more devices too - accelerometer, RTC, etc, I don't think traditional ESP32/8266 devboards have those!

[@der.Schtefan]

Maybe visual studio code would be better suited? It is super fast and can handle micropython, plus has extension for it. It is also free, and open source.

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

I'm getting a few of these 👍 I'm simple so I prefer Python.

[@b.mandal]

I like your each and every videos

[@mahiatlinux]

Can you please make a tutorial series on this board? Thanks!

[@sandeepsinghjagdev3485]

what about security ?? atmgea328 has fuse bits to prevent hex code reading but in this whole source code will be copied

[@MaxGoddur]

I often wonder why folks select the Arduino over the ESP8266/NodeMCU/Wemos Mini D1 boards?

[@davidreddy1055]

It’s interesting board and once again great video

[@d.jensen5153]

Thanks! This was a great intro.

[@liudas5377]

Very nice job. Thanks for the education....

[@davidkempton2894]

Thanks for sharing this! Do you need to have an SD card fitted in order to program this board?

[@greatscottlab]

No

[@peeenoytv1149]

You should try the STM32F103C8T6 or the "Blue Pill"

[@ghostinmatrix]

I'm a teeny tiny bit jealous of your scope...

[@SuperKoe]

Hello, i cant find your compare chart in your description.

[@sharadthecurioustardigrade1533]

5:30 ah, reminds of the old native GreatScott, and video under which everyone was commenting about him using semicolons in python

[@electrohardik8497]

I think now in your next part of this series you should review RoMeo BLE

[@ljnrf]

Thanks for the video @GreatScott! At 3:52 you say you downloaded the latest firmware version, and it looks like you went to the micropython site but then 4:05 you said you went to the board manufacturer's site and downloaded something from there too. Then flashed the board with that second file using their DfuSe_Demo tool. Question: Did you do anything with the first file?

[@kippie80]

How about a vid doing this in assembly? It is fast enough to simulate other devices, seems to have as many pins as a mega2560? Wish there was a faster mega2560 that is still a 5v device.

[@tonanornottonull7132]

I think this is a great alternative!

[@IPv4Address]

Great video keep up the good work!!